In what cinematic world do "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Cloverfield," "Iron Man" and "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" earn equal attention? Well, they are all among the nominees for the Visual Effects Society Awards announced Monday.

Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" won four VES Awards at the 11th Visual Effects Society Awards on Tuesday evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. "Life of Pi" -- which is nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best film and director -- won for visual effects in a visual effects-driven motion picture, animated character in a live action feature motion picture for Richard Parker, FX and simulation animation in a live action feature motion picture for the...

Visual effects visionary, director and producer Douglas Trumbull has a "broad" philosophy of film. He believes that everything in a movie is, in essence, a special effect. "Movies are all about illusions, whether it is makeup or wardrobe or some location or being in a period of time or being on an alien planet," says Trumbull, 69. Trumbull has created some of the screen's greatest illusions in such seminal sci-fi films as Stanley Kubrick's 1968 masterwork "2001: A Space Odyssey," his own 1972 cult classic "Silent Running" and Steven Spielberg's 1977 "Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

SAN FRANCISCO - As the opening credits of the new Cinemax series "Banshee" begin, the dial of an old steel safe spins, tumblers locking to reveal a combination that viewers can use to crack open "the vault" on the show's website. This is where each week the creators of "Banshee" will spill the dark secrets hidden in haunting photographs that appear on the distressed surface of a wooden bar in the show's title sequence. "Fast forward at your own peril," the show's executive producer and showrunner, Greg Yaitanes, said of TV viewers who might be tempted to skip the opening credits.

Visual effects "Avatar" Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones In one of the few wins that "Avatar" managed to snag on a night delivered and gift-wrapped to "The Hurt Locker," Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones won for visual effects, topping other sci-fi fare "District 9" and "Star Trek." Despite taking a beating overall, "Avatar" was considered a shoo-in for this category after netting six trophies at the Visual Effects Society Awards the previous weekend.